Tips for Buying a Horse Property On a Budget

In order to make your property purchase a success, there are a few things you need to keep in mind. So, let’s go over our tips for buying a horse property on a budget!

Know what you absolutely need

Whether you are buying a horse property on a budget or with unlimited funds, the property needs to have some features to be a viable purchase. These include:

• Easy water access both inside facilities and out in the fields.
• Quality and safe fences with no barbed wire or similar.
• Horse stable with stalls in good condition, a feed barn, a tack room, and pasture shelters.
• Proper heating, plumbing, and other utilities in all key facilities to protect and keep your animals happy.

If a property can’t at least fulfill these requirements, then it can’t be considered a horse property, and you would have to invest a lot of time and money into setting everything up. Investing funds to prepare your horse barn for earthquakes and other disaster scenarios is one thing. Quite another to need to build everything from the ground up.

Work with a reputable agent when buying a horse property on a budget

Consider this: If you and your horses are moving long distances in California and hiring movers, you would want to rely on an expert team to ensure you get to your new home perfectly safe and sound. Well, the same logic applies to the purchase of a property! A real estate agent would help you navigate a lot of potential pitfalls, including concerns such as area regulations and zoning laws which you might miss on your own. And which might have made running a horse property nearly impossible! Besides, a professional realtor would be able to tap into connections and resources to provide you with a much wider selection of properties to check out.

The land and the location concerns

There are a few things to consider when buying a horse property on a budget related to the land and its location. Namely, how well you could function as a horse property afterward. Is the land easily accessible? You would likely want to open up your property for at least some private riding lessons. What about its condition during winter? If the land becomes difficult to traverse and hard to access at the first snowfall, it would be inconvenient for you and your animals. Finally, consider how easily you could get to work and the amenities you might need daily.

Do not pay too much attention to superficial aesthetics

When buying a horse property on a budget, you cannot assume you’d be able to afford a property in perfect condition. However, this does not mean you should buy a rundown place! Instead, it would be best to look for properties that might not look too appealing because of peeling paint, slightly overgrown grass, etc., but whose buildings and facilities are still solid. You’d want to find the perfect paint for your horse’s environment. And it is relatively easy to sort out aesthetic concerns through cheap renovation.

Do not commit to too much rebuilding

The reason why we insisted on finding a property with solid structures and facilities before simply comes down to cost concerns. If you are buying a horse property on a budget, you likely don’t want to sink more money than you initially paid just to get everything back to actually livable conditions. Besides, what would you do in the meantime while remodeling happens? Just stable your horses outdoors and hope for the best. Both financially and for the sake of your animals, you need a property you can move into immediately.

Have a proper inspection done

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to tell whether or not a property is actually in good condition. Sometimes, even prior owners, who had lived on a property for years, can miss things. Not because they don’t exist or they want to deny them, but because a problem hasn’t shown itself yet. You can have cracks in your foundation, which would let water seep into your basement, or the stables could be compromised structurally, but you can’t tell until the first bad storm rolls around and everything goes wrong. So, the only solution is to insist on a thorough property inspection. The good news is that this particular cost most often falls on the seller instead of the buyer!

Check on potential neighbors

A lot can threaten your animals when living on a horse property. And yet, few things can endanger them as seriously as bad neighbors. Despite owning horses, some people insist on putting electricity or barbed wire on their outer fences. Some are even willing to shoot at other people’s animals if they somehow get onto their property or even wander outside of their own. Even past that, when running a property like this, you want to be able to rely on your neighbors instead of ignoring or fearing them. So, talk to people who could become your neighbors, and ask them for their opinion of each other, too. You can learn a lot about the neighborhood, local weather, and other challenges!

Always browse before committing

If you want to find your ideal horse property and do so on a budget, you cannot limit your options too quickly. Even if you come across what seems like the best possible property at an ideal price, it is still smart to check out others, too. You never know what patience might reward you with! Similarly, never give up hope until you’ve seen the last property on offer, either. Things can turn out well even if they seem hopeless at first, so opting for a bad deal before then is silly.

The importance of reliable medical care

When buying a horse on a budget, the final thing to account for is reliable access to medical care for yourself, your staff, and your animals. The first time one of your horses gets hurt or sick, and you realize help is at least a few hours away, you will regret not choosing to set up near a veterinarian. Of course, buying a property right next to one is almost impossible. But you need to be able to get there quickly in an emergency!

Final word

We hope you found our tips for buying a horse property on a budget helpful! So long as you approach planning your purchase the right way, you can ensure that the property you buy is one that will perfectly suit the needs of your family and your animals.